[Byakushiki]

I get the feeling it's people like those who will just one day, out of the blue, just go up to me and ask "Yo dawg why didn't you get Beats? Much better than those crappy (insert mid/hi-fi headphone here) you got".
Honestly, I'll just continue on my way unless they start trash talking or getting rude. Then out comes the bokken.
Literal case of speak softly but carry a big stick (in this case, it's made of ironwood).

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

I get the feeling it's people like those who will just one day, out of the blue, just go up to me and ask "Yo dawg why didn't you get Beats? Much better than those crappy (insert mid/hi-fi headphone here) you got".
 

 
While holding their headphones out sideways at arm's length...

 

[melka]

I'm not an audiophile at all (I don't have the ear yet and definetly not the budget), but I can usually discern a decent pair of cans.
A few years back, I've been caught up in this "trend'' stuff. The Beats weren't out yet, but the WeSC Oboe were the rage. I thankfully scored a free pair and I was convinced that they were the crap 'til the day I tried a pair a Porta Pro. I know they aren't "audiophile-grade" but I was impressed by the sound those little drivers could spit. They were a bit less trendy but still quite popular among the crowds I usually hang with (graphic designers, artists, etc...). I've been using Koss' since then until a few months back : they broke, definitly.

I've been touring the best buys and equivalent shops but I don't know why, I couldn't find headphones that were in my price range & that I liked. I've noticed that my ears became more sensitive lately (I could pick up quieter sound than before), and that I was more interested in a neutral sound than the big bassy headphones like the XB500 (which I still liked for it's comfy earpads).
I tried the Beats, and I have to admit that the expensive ones are interesting in their "mechanical feel" (I like the design of the swivel joint, but that's my interest in product design speaking, nothing else, however the "b" logo is horrible), but the sound (and price) was not for me. I saw a lot of people sporting those in Montreal and I was wondering if I "lost my hearing", if there was something that I couldn't discern that everyone else found in the Beats, or if everyone was just plain stupid to spend 400$ on those...
 
After seeing the post on doesitpew about frankensteining some cheap headphone with SFI drivers, I decided to give it a go.
I received the 120 Ohm SFI drivers a few days ago, so I just wired them up on a cheap extension cable and plugged on the macbook, listened a basic 256kb MP3 (Coltrane's Giant Steps) with VLC's volume quite high, and even without any kind of nicely damped enclosure and padding, I could hear that those 15€ drivers were the kind of sound I was looking for.
I can't wait to receive the donors (kanen km-880, like a lot of people using the SFIs), I have a few components to build a cheap cMoy with regular resistors / capacitors, and I'm starting to re-rip my CD collection to flacs and replugging my old kenwood turntable...
 
Re-reading what I wrote, I realize that you might not care, but thanks anyway for all the technical infos and stuff
 
Cheers

 

[dleblanc343]

Hey cool, you're in Montreal? Same here. Beats are the rage for kids, and almost only kids. All you see is young wannabe gangsta's wearing them as fashion accessories more than anything else. I know this, because we sell a handful at the shop I work at on a daily basis.
 
Funny thing is, what you see in public can only be accounted for 50% legit headphones; the rest, like I said, are usually fakes bought just to look fresh.
 
Quote:

I'm not an audiophile at all (I don't have the ear yet and definetly not the budget), but I can usually discern a decent pair of cans.A few years back, I've been caught up in this "trend'' stuff. The Beats weren't out yet, but the WeSC Oboe were the rage. I thankfully scored a free pair and I was convinced that they were the crap 'til the day I tried a pair a Porta Pro. I know they aren't "audiophile-grade" but I was impressed by the sound those little drivers could spit. They were a bit less trendy but still quite popular among the crowds I usually hang with (graphic designers, artists, etc...). I've been using Koss' since then until a few months back : they broke, definitly.
I've been touring the best buys and equivalent shops but I don't know why, I couldn't find headphones that were in my price range & that I liked. I've noticed that my ears became more sensitive lately (I could pick up quieter sound than before), and that I was more interested in a neutral sound than the big bassy headphones like the XB500 (which I still liked for it's comfy earpads).
I tried the Beats, and I have to admit that the expensive ones are interesting in their "mechanical feel" (I like the design of the swivel joint, but that's my interest in product design speaking, nothing else, however the "b" logo is horrible), but the sound (and price) was not for me. I saw a lot of people sporting those in Montreal and I was wondering if I "lost my hearing", if there was something that I couldn't discern that everyone else found in the Beats, or if everyone was just plain stupid to spend 400$ on those...
 
After seeing the post on doesitpew about frankensteining some cheap headphone with SFI drivers, I decided to give it a go.
I received the 120 Ohm SFI drivers a few days ago, so I just wired them up on a cheap extension cable and plugged on the macbook, listened a basic 256kb MP3 (Coltrane's Giant Steps) with VLC's volume quite high, and even without any kind of nicely damped enclosure and padding, I could hear that those 15€ drivers were the kind of sound I was looking for.
I can't wait to receive the donors (kanen km-880, like a lot of people using the SFIs), I have a few components to build a cheap cMoy with regular resistors / capacitors, and I'm starting to re-rip my CD collection to flacs and replugging my old kenwood turntable...
 
Re-reading what I wrote, I realize that you might not care, but thanks anyway for all the technical infos and stuff
 
Cheers

 

 

[randomstranger]

I'm actually tempted to use the reasons to not buy beats for my Persuasive speech in college. Luckily none of the tens of hipsters at my college that own beats are in my class. I could easily throw together a well prepared speech with graphs of frequency response, distortion and etc. I might actually be able to convince people to make better performance/price decisions.

 

[CatboyMac]

Quote:

Hey cool, you're in Montreal? Same here. Beats are the rage for kids, and almost only kids. All you see is young wannabe gangsta's wearing them as fashion accessories more than anything else. I know this, because we sell a handful at the shop I work at on a daily basis.
 

Don't you think that's reading into it a bit much?

 

[melka]

@dleblanc : I was in Montreal, I no longer am but planning on coming back soon (I should change my head-fi profile)

 

[dleblanc343]

Ouf, not even in the slightest my friend. It's not just generalization, it's factual.
 
Quote:

Don't you think that's reading into it a bit much?

 

 

[sennheiserhd485]

Quote:

Glad I could make you laugh.  
 
 

You did. =D   I could totally see something like that happening.
 
I actually saw the Seventh Day Slumber drummer with some Beats on the other day. I can't believe professional musicians have fallen into the trap too! =( 

 

[Saintkeat]

most likely had to wear it due to sponsorships or advertising deals.
 
I brought a friend to an audio store today to try out a couple of headphones. Hes a Bass player btw.
 
So first he had a listen to the ATH-M50 and was really digging it.
 
Then I told the store hand to bring him the most expensive Beats he has in store, which were the Beats pro that cost 4 times as much as the M50.
 
He listened to the same tracks he heard on the M50 and said the Beats bass was slightly more but lost out on all the details and there was a degradation in the sound quality as well. He couldn't understand why Beats wanted to drag out the bass so much that it sounds awful. Needless to say, the M50 won hands down, while the Beats pro weren't even worth a 2nd glance.

 

[MetroBBOY]

The Beats Pro is actually not a bad performer. Its probably their best can, but weighs like a truck and priced the same as a D5000 lol.

 

[Parall3l]

When ever I see a video that says "TOP 10 BEST HEADPHONE 2011 EVER !!!!" I couldn't help but to check it out, but every time I skip to the end, I see something like this :
 

 

[J0nny]

AHAHAHAHA! My friends Tours broke today! The cable fell apart! So the cable that they supposedly spent years developing actually sucks! I love my ER4Ps

 

 

[Parall3l]

Quote:

 So the cable that they supposedly spent years developing actually sucks!

Must've been Mercury years 

 (a year on Mercury is 88 Earth days)

 

[Raguvian]

Quote:

The Beats Pro is actually not a bad performer. Its probably their best can, but weighs like a truck and priced the same as a D5000 lol.

If it were $200 instead of $500 I could see buying it.
 
I kind of want to get a broken one just so I can use the daisy-chain feature and just plop in some better drivers out of some other closed back headphone.